Before beginning her doctoral studies at Tallinn University, Helene Uppin worked both as a teacher and as a museum educator. She said she entered the doctoral program primarily out of curiosity about whether students actually learn during museum lessons and how such field trips could be improved to positively influence students' behavior. One of her earliest important realizations was how critical cooperation between museum instructors and teachers is.

Her subsequent research focused on the practices of teachers who frequently and enthusiastically organize field trips. "Academic literature suggested there was a lot to learn from them — above all, how to overcome various obstacles and how to organize these trips well," she explained.

She then studied the perspectives of instructors at museums and environmental education centers. The result was an overview of how children learn in museums within the context of general education and how schools and museums cooperate.

In principle, museums and schools share the same goal: supporting learning. Problems, however, often arise from poor communication. According to Uppin, many teachers are enthusiastic about museum visits and have carefully thought through how to organize them. But there are also teachers who have not.

"Sometimes they arrive at a museum with a class after someone else has booked the trip and program for them and they do not even know what the students are going to learn. Other times, museum staff have not been told what language the children speak," she said. Uppin refers to this as a "black box" situation.

"For example, children may attend a lesson on marine physics with a homeroom teacher who specializes in music education, while the physics teacher knows nothing about the trip. As a result, the physics teacher cannot provide an introduction, reflect on the experience afterward or create any meaningful links with the students' learning experience," she said.

One of the dissertation's main conclusions is that field trips often remain poorly thought out precisely because of weak communication within schools.

At the same time, Uppin said there are many teachers who highly value field trips and would like to organize them even more often. "We should not forget that field trips have been a normal part of schoolwork and education for more than 100 years. Already in the 1920s, the journal Kasvatus published detailed methodological guides on how to organize good nature excursions," Uppin said.

Museums only began hiring museum educators in the early 1990s. Previously, tours were also conducted by other museum employees, though these tended to be more academic in structure.

"Today, all larger museums have education specialists with pedagogical training, many of whom have also worked as teachers. Overall, the picture is that museums offer engaging and methodologically diverse lessons that are very closely tied to the school curriculum," Uppin explained.

Field trips have become a hot topic in Estonian society over the past year. The Ministry of Education and Research recently prepared explanatory guidelines for schools and parents on how to organize field trips, museum visits, theater performances and other enriching educational activities in a way that ensures all students can participate.

Uppin said she was not surprised that the issue eventually rose to the forefront. "Even when I began working on my dissertation, I sensed that, in the eyes of the ministry, this was a gray and somewhat invisible area that was vulnerable to cuts and unexpected changes. It seems the ministry still does not fully recognize the richness of museum and environmental education or how frequently field trips actually take place. Unfortunately, this controversy did not surprise me," she said.

One reason stems from the coronavirus pandemic. When the pandemic broke out in early 2020, schools received guidance fairly quickly on how to proceed. Museums, however, only received guidance from the education ministry on how to receive school groups a year after the pandemic began.

"Unfortunately, our thinking about education tends to be centered around school buildings. If we think about what makes a person educated, I believe many would say that a person should go to theaters, museums, libraries, science centers, hiking trails and elsewhere. Learning does not happen only in the classroom," Uppin said.

Learning is contextual, she added. "You only learn to swim by being in the water, yet for some reason we think nature can be learned only from textbooks," she said. For example, when studying the Middle Ages in history class, it is worthwhile not only to read textbooks and hold classroom discussions but also to go and actually see and even smell medieval pottery shards.

One of Uppin's dissertation recommendations also concerns planning the school network. She said policymakers should consider which museum or environmental education providers operate in a particular area. "These institutions may employ some of the few subject specialists in an entire county or municipality," she explained.

Because Estonia faces a major shortage of subject teachers, field trips could help alleviate the problem to some extent. At the same time, leading educational programs at museums or environmental education centers could provide an alternative career path for teachers.

Although all children may appear to have equal opportunities to participate in field trips, Uppin said this is not the reality. "If you are a teacher at a school in Tallinn City Center, it is significantly easier to organize field trips. The average income of parents at selective schools in central Tallinn is already hundreds of euros higher than in other parts of Estonia. For these parents, paying class fees or contributing to school funds is usually not a problem. As a result, central Tallinn schools have the flexibility to choose where they go and what they do. They are less dependent on subsidies and their teachers can operate more flexibly," she explained.

In Uppin's view, the collection of voluntary donations should not be overregulated. School communities are generally capable of agreeing among themselves how to organize activities fairly and respectfully for everyone involved and how funds should be spent.

She considers the wording of the recently updated guidelines — which allow schools to ask parents for contributions toward activities not directly tied to the mandatory curriculum — somewhat unsuccessful. Teachers are capable of integrating virtually any experience into schoolwork, she said. Moreover, schools generally do not organize activities that conflict methodologically, ethically or academically with the curriculum.

Schools in smaller regions outside major population centers also face substantial transportation costs. "I recommend taking this into account when funding field trips. The Ministry of Culture-funded Culture Backpacks subsidy already does this and schools located farther from major centers receive more money per student," she said.

According to Uppin, previous studies also clearly show that the children who most need museum or theater visits are those from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds and rural areas.

"In Estonia, we know that the greatest educational stratification occurs in Tallinn. On one hand, we have schools that can select students for first grade; on the other, schools that accept all children from the district, including students with special educational needs and children from very different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Students at the latter schools should be given many more opportunities to expand their cultural horizons and visit different learning environments," she said.

Families of students attending selective schools are more likely to provide such experiences outside school as well. In addition, going to a museum or theater is significantly more expensive for individual families than attending with a class.

Even when families can afford theater tickets, Uppin said not all parents have the mental energy or time to organize such outings. The result, however, is cultural impoverishment among children and other negative consequences.

The author of the dissertation said people may naturally ask why field trips are necessary at all. According to her, learning in museums develops knowledge and skills, supports a mindset open to lifelong learning, increases motivation to learn, broadens children's worldview and provides ideas for future career choices.

In addition, a field trip to a museum or another cultural or scientific institution gives children and young people the experience that there are places in public space where they are welcome.

"That there is a so-called third space between home and school where they can learn about what truly interests them and where they are not necessarily expected to buy anything — like a library. Considering how polarized, unequal and tense the world is, it is extremely important that we have and visit such open, friendly and socially trusted places," Helene Uppin said.

Helene Uppin will defend her doctoral dissertation, "Learning in Museums in the Context of General Education," at Tallinn University on May 25.

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